Backup and restore

Export

Platform admins can export local Nakama data from Settings → Export ZIP.

The export is a .zip backup of the configured Nakama data root, which defaults to ~/.nakama and follows NAKAMA_CONFIG_DIR when set.

Treat export ZIPs as sensitive. They can include:

• Provider settings and API keys
• Auth data
• Org and profile workspaces (soul files, memory, artifacts)
• Org-level MEMORY.md, memory-archive/, and memory-history/ (see Org memory)
• Custom tools and skills
• The local SQLite database when it lives under the Nakama root

Import

Importing is a whole-install restore:

1. Preview the ZIP first
2. Confirm restore to replace the current local data root

Plan for downtime during restore. This replaces the active data root rather than merging individual records.

On a fresh install, you can also restore during first-time setup before creating a new admin account.

Docker volumes

When Nakama runs in Docker, persist /nakama/data with a named volume or bind mount. Back up that volume (or use Export ZIP from the dashboard) before upgrades or migrations.

See Docker for volume setup.

Next steps

• Quickstart — install and first-run setup
• First-time setup — restore a backup during the setup wizard
• Docker — container deployment and volumes